A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed

HOW ODD THAT MASSACRES MOSTLY HAPPEN IN "GUN-FREE ZONES"! When will the brain-dead Left wake up and draw the obvious conclusion? Gun bans kill kids

Monday, September 26, 2016

More Fronts in The Second Amendment War: Todd Rathner, Knife Rights, and the NFAFA

Todd Rathner at the Texas Legislature

Todd Rathner is a talented freedom fighter. I have been impressed with his abilities for several years. I met him again at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Tampa. Todd is the lobbyist for Knife Rights. The accomplishments of Knife Rights for the last decade has been tremendous, impressive, a tiny organization fighting far above its weight class. Knife Rights says they have opened a second front in the war to restore the Second Amendment. They are correct, and they are winning significant victories every year. I have written about Knife Rights before. Doug Ritter is one of the founding stars of the Knife Rights success story, but Todd Rathner is another. It seems to be a near magical combination that has produced incredibly effective results.

Part of the reason is the knife laws are so stupid and indefensible that a talented persuader like Todd Rathner can easily show state legislators reforms are needed, are obvious, and have no political downside.

Todd is continuing with his role as the lobbyist for Knife Rights. I expect more great things from him in the future.

He has seen another opportunity that dovetails nicely with his current lobbying on the Knife Rights front in the war for restoring the Second Amendment.

He has opened another front. It has many similarities to Knife Rights. It is a unified lobbying approach to reform and ultimately repeal the National Firearms Act (NFA). It is why he started the NFA Freedom Alliance.

The NFA restrictions at the state level are just as stupid and indefensible as the knife laws are. In the last legislative session in Texas (2015), Todd lobbied both for Knife Rights and the NFA Freedom Alliance. A strong statewide knife preemption bill was passed. Reform of the archaic Texas knife laws against carry of any knife with a more than 5.5" blade was narrowly defeated by a Democrat committee chairman, who voted for the bill, then killed it by refusing to do the administrative action he had promised.

On the NFA front, Texas had a weird old law that allowed the ownership of NFA items; silencers, short barreled rifles and shotguns, automatic firearms and destructive devices. But ownership was only allowed if the items were registered under the NFA.

You could own an item, but you could be arrested for owning the item. Then you would be given the opportunity to prove that you had it registered with the NFA in a court of law. This is called a "defense to prosecution". It is the opposite of innocent until proven guilty.

If a police officer and/or a prosecutor wanted to punish you, you could spend many thousands of dollars just to show that you were innocent. It happened. Todd changed that.

Legislatures are complex organizations. Learning how to "read" them, determine pressure points, personalities, and pathways through the labyrinthine legislative procedures to pass bills is an acquired skill.

It takes talent, intelligence, and exemplary persuasive abilities. Todd Rathner has shown he is a master of the craft. The skill set is the same for a Knife Rights bill or an NFA bill on the state level. Supporting Todd is a force multiplier for both efforts.

Knife Rights and the NFA Freedom Alliance are small but agile organizations. They obtain tremendous bang for the buck. They have virtually no bureaucratic "tail" to drag them down, slow decision making to a stand still, and cause them to miss opportunities.

The problem that goes with this advantage is a lack of resources. When they spend their time raising funds, it is time not spent working legislatures. It is not much money, but there has to be money for travel, minimal supportive structure, and research. We are not talking hundreds of millions of dollars like Bloomberg, or tens of millions of dollars like the NRA. We are talking tens of thousands. In a video, Todd Rathner off handily remarked that one million dollars would likely insure victory, nationwide, in a few years. I do not think he was joking.

Knife Rights and The NFA Freedom Alliance are the "Skunk Works" of the political world. They accomplish what many claim to be impossible, on starvation budgets.

They depend on things like the gun culture equivalent of the bake sale.

The NFA Freedom Alliance is running a raffle to raise funds to keep them in the fight. The prize is an AK short barreled rifle with an AK optimized suppressor. It is based on a Romanian parts kit with a side folder stock. It is a semi-auto short barreled rifle with a suppressor, so it has two tax stamps.

I have no connection to the NFAFA administratively or monetarily.

Knife Rights and the NFAFA are using the strategy pioneered by the concealed carry permit movement and grass roots Second Amendment supporters.

Educate the state legislators to pass reforms. Use those reforms as a base to build more reforms. Eventually peel back federal infringements, as was done with the ban on guns in federal parks.

As the state legislators climb the ladder to Congress, the Senate, and governorships, build on their education to pass more reforms.

It can be done. it is a winning strategy, and Todd Rathner has proven that he has the knowledge and skills to make it work.

Todd started his lobbying career as a lobbyist for the NRA. He found he could be a more effective lobbyist for Knife Rights.

The NRA membership elected Todd to the NRA board of directors. He has an intimate knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the NRA. He is up for election again next year. The ballot will be in the February, 2017 edition of each of the NRA magazines.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Why do these groups not combine their efforts and resources and attack the basics of common sense? Define the word infringe explain the reason for the bill of rights and find out who thinks they have more power than God. Repeal of the 1934 NFA and any other arms control laws should all happen at the same time. With nation wide effect. Why do we have a constitution if it is void because some ass holes years ago decided they were to chicken shit to let their neighbor own guns? every little bit of legislation is an infringement. If you add enough fire crackers together you can get just as big of an explosion as a stick of dynamite. stop picking at the issue and solve the problem. this is not an issue to discuss over tea. the water is coming to a boil. It is no ones business who wants to be A VICTIM AND WHO REFUSES TO BE A VICTIM.

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Background

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” -- Thomas Jefferson

Syndicated columnist Charley Reese (1937-2013): "Gun control by definition affects only honest people. When a politician tells you he wants to forbid you from owning a firearm or force you to get a license, he is telling you he doesn’t trust you. That’s an insult. ... Gun control is not about guns or crime. It is about an elite that fears and despises the common people."

The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles -- Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)

Note for non-American readers: Crime reports from America which describe an offender just as a "teen" or "teenager" almost invariably mean a BLACK teenager.

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.

Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)

First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean

It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

How much do you know about Trayvon Martin? Did you recognize him in the picture above? If not you may need to know more about him. It's all here (Backups here and here)

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” -- Robert A. Heinlein

After all the serious stuff here, maybe we need a funny picture of a cantankerous cat